Random mumblings from a Christian who just happens to be a writer, filmmaker and bewildered dad.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Notes from the journey

As some of you may or may not know, I have been on something of a journey. Not a literal one, of course. A career journey would perhaps be one way of describing it. I guess a faith journey would be another.

Last year, I was made redundant. It was a huge blow, but I knew that God was in it somehow and that it was the push I needed to get out there and find something that I really wanted to do.

It was scary. I had a wife and child to support, and no real idea of where I'd end up.

Until, that is, I went away on a media training course and felt God say He was calling me into the media. Exactly how He meant for me to get into the industry, I had no idea. I just knew it was right for me. It was the right time. It was where God wanted me to be. And things would work out - I just didn't have the foggiest idea how.

That was then. This is now - one year on. At the moment, things feel like they are hanging on a thread. I have no idea how the next few weeks will turn out, let alone the next twelve months. I am praying frantically that the work will come in, and that we are able to pay our bills. I'm getting work - but not quite enough.

I would seriously consider giving up if it weren't for the fact that, when I look back to when I had that not-quite-road-to-Damascus-revelation-that-was-quite-mild-really-but-still-fairly-significant experience, I have come a long way. I have managed to survive as a self-employed freelancer since July (although I officially started in September). Thanks to support from family, I now have my own software and equipment that has enabled me to do what I do. I don't have everything I need, but you can't expect to have everything all at once.

I have had my own office, shared with the awesome GP Design monkeys, and had access to kit thanks to the kind guys at a local church and youth-focused organisation. Work has come in from friends and former colleagues as well as people I'd never met before (thanks to some nerve-racking cold calls).

And now I am about to embark on the next step, it seems, in this journey. Me - Little Me who doesn't have a chuffing clue about most things - is about to start working from our new office in Cardiff Bay sharing with two other guys who are in the same boat.

All because I emailed some random guy my CV.

It's scary and exciting in equal measure. As usual, I have no idea how things will work out, but I know that I've just got to get on with it and trust the All-Knowing One and give the glory upward to Him. That's all I can do.